Jens Pind and the Fifth Ring of DOOM!

Jens Pind. What a lovely weave, and quite easy to do... once it is started. Placement of the fifth ring in the sequence is the key - get it right, and you continue weaving merrily on your way. Get it wrong... the sky slowly darkens, thunder rumbles, and the piece in your hand begins to get ornery. You battle on, sure that things should be easier than this, but ... the weave begins to defy you. It slowly closes down the spaces, until you are halfway to Hulk transformation trying to jam that next ring through. It has turned into a Spiral weave, only at an AR that is much too small.

The piece on the top is correctly woven Jens Pind. The piece on the bottom is incorrectly woven Jens Pind. Why, oh why, does this happen to me (as you would suspect, statistically speaking) 50% of the time? 

(Please excuse my poor closure in the spiral piece. I was probably finding it difficult to get my pliers in there, BECAUSE I WAS WEAVING IT WRONG!)

Sterling Silver - Only For The Rich?

The price of silver has just skyrocketed in the past few weeks.

Looking at the price per gram in which I purchase my supplies, I calculated that if it were to continue at this rate, a bracelet made at the end of the year will cost $50 more in raw materials than it would if made now. $50! I can't sustain that, and I'm sure most of you out there wouldn't see the value in it. I'd like to say "surely it can't continue like this", but I'm afraid I don't have history on my side.

“The silver price has bounced 27% since January 28, a huge advance for a measly 16 trading days. It's already soared past its 2010 high and was selling for less than $16 this time last year, a double in 12 months” Jeff Clark, Silverseek.

Will this push the price of Sterling Silver jewellery out of the reach of the average person? Is it time to look at base metals, such as copper, brass and bronze? These are now becoming more popular, driven by necessity based on the price of silver. What are your thoughts?